


Place of Honour

by lasairfhiona



Category: Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-06
Updated: 2011-10-06
Packaged: 2017-10-24 09:04:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/261548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lasairfhiona/pseuds/lasairfhiona
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry goes to Washington DC to honour the past</p>
            </blockquote>





	Place of Honour

He'd come for the dedication at the request of the President. They said he was a hero. He'd saved the world so many times that he earned his right to be there and his right to speak. He said he'd come but he declined speaking. All the things he'd done that they said made him a hero was done long after the war they were finally commemorating with a memorial. During WWII he was just a man, a junior officer on a ship. He was just doing his job and praying every night like every other junior officer and enlisted man to get home to his family safely.

The throng of people on the Mall made it impossible for him to get close to the granite and marble memorial and he wanted to spend time with his memories without the many onlookers and media that was there for the dedication. That was why he'd waited until after midnight to go. He didn't pretend to believe he'd be the only one there at that hour but there wouldn't be the thousands of people that had been there that afternoon.

He'd contemplated taking a cab from the Willard but it was only a few blocks walk down to the mall and another couple of long blocks to the memorial. Dressed in a sweater, to ward off the late night chill, khaki trousers and comfortable shoes, he walked along the Ellipse and thought of the many Presidents he'd worked for over the years and the times too many to count that he'd walked through the gates to gain admittance to the oval office and the situation room far below the White House. He always loved the Washington Monument and how it glowed in the spotlights that lit it at night. Walking around the monument he could see the lights that lit the WWII memorial. He could see a few people wandering around but be didn't turn away this time.

Now it was time to remember. Time to salute his fallen comrades on ships that never returned home. Men he'd gone to the Academy with. Men he'd trained with but had gone different directions after they left training.

He walked up to the memorial and headed to the right. He slowly walked past the pillars for the states, unable to miss the flowers, letters, and pictures that had been left as a remembrance of men long gone. Men who died in honour serving their country. He passed the Atlantic Pavillion. Europe and the Atlantic hadn't been his theater during the war but he knew men who had been there. Men who jumped on D-day. Men who went down in submarines and ships and men laboured in prison camps.

He continued past more pillars for the states until he came to the Field of Stars and stopped. This was where he wanted to be. This was where he would remember man like Joe who served on the PT boats that ran from the same base he did. Men like Tony who died in a plane bombing the Japanese Navy. Henry who died on Iwo Jima. Frank who died during the battle of Leyte Gulf. There were so many. Too many to count, too many to name. Men who had simply believed in their country and wanted to do what was right.

"A toast?"

Harry turned to see his old friend standing next to him with a silver flask in his hand. They were both old men now, hair gone grey if they still had any to speak of, bodies gone to hell, and tears running down their faces. He just nodded and took the flask from Jiggs's hand.

"To absent friends and memory still bright," he said and took a swig of the amber liquid.

"To absent friends," Jiggs repeated taking the flask back from Harry and taking a drink.

Both men stood there for a long time, oblivious to the others, mostly children and grandchildren of vets, passing around them. Each was lost in the memory of those they knew who'd never come home and those who came home but were lost because they couldn't cope.

"Harry. Admiral Stark," Lee called from behind the two old friends.

Harry turned and looked at the man who'd been his partner for 30 years. Lee stood there in a black sweater that set off his curly grey hair and jeans that still hugged his lean body.

"Did you know anyone who served in WWII, Crane?" Admiral Stark asked.

"Yes, Sir, my father," Lee answered quietly. His father came home from the war but according to his mother was never the same afterward. He'd died before Lee entered the Academy.

Harry watched as Lee took a picture from his pocket and walked away from them continuing around the monument until he came to the Florida pillar where he placed a picture with medals attached to it. Neither Harry or Jiggs heard him whisper, "Thanks Dad."

He, with Jiggs at his side, continued around the monument leaving Lee to his quiet contemplation while he indulged in his own.

The three of them had come to this place of honour for their own reasons but when they reconciled their memories they left together for the walk back to the Willard.

The end

**Author's Note:**

> WWII memorial website: http://www.wwiimemorial.com/  
> Toast quoted from the video JMS created in memory of Richard Biggs (B5) which can be found at: http://download.theforce.net/theater/temp/rickbiggs_320.mov


End file.
